Welcome to Discussion

Join the Mission Juno virtual imaging team by helping us to identify what images to capture with JunoCam now that we're at Jupiter!

At each perijove pass, we'll ask you to start voting on which POIs you're most interested in. In the meantime, please participate in the general conversation, comment on POIs identified by the community, or suggest a new feature that hasn't yet been discussed yet.

Explore the map below

Click on POIs in the map or browse the POI list for details and discussion threads!

Notes about cylindrical maps and perijove passes

We create cylindrical maps from the telescopic images supplied by our amateur astronomers, and we update them every 2 weeks. Jupiter has a dynamic atmosphere where winds in the belts (brown) and zones (white) go in opposite directions. Storms develop and evolve, and other atmospheric features come and go. With each new map, we move all of the POI markers — sometimes POIs disappear, sometimes they get torn apart.

In its 53 day orbit, Juno spends most of the time distant from Jupiter. The spacecraft swoops from the north to the south pole in just 2 hours, which we call a "perijove pass". That means that the images JunoCam can take are restricted to a swath of longitude – we will not be able to select from all the points of interest every orbit. On the Voting page we will say which POI's are likely to be within our field of view on a given perijove pass and you will participate in the selection of which POI's to image.

We will have a conversation on every perijove pass about which POIs to image, and the debate will be based on the threads of discussion associated with those POIs.

General Comments

If you'd like to share commentary on Jupiter's atmosphere that is not related to a specific Point of Interest, please contribute below.

I have tried numerous times to bring out the intricacies of the Jovian cloud forms from the raw images, such as the nimbus-like cloud tops and appearance of layering. I just cannot find it there in the 1600 X 1600 pixel images provided for the general public's use. If I may respectfully use as an example, the images of Mr. Eichstadt or Mr. Gill show unprecedented details and sharpness. I have tried to replicate their works using a rather ancient version of Photoshop, and I believe it is still capable enough to produce the basics. I have to suspect that there are other forms of raw images or data from which are somehow accessible, but not to the public. Am I correct?

The raw images are indeed posted, but they are much more difficult to use. When you go to download an image it is the "striped" version on the far left. That is where Mr. Gill and Mr. Eichstadt start. Most people do not have the sophisticated image processing tools they have, which is why we post the other (albeit lower resolution) images for people to use.

Dear JunoCAM Team, NASA, MSSS, can we work out and discuss the Colors a bit more here on the Discussion section?

As far as I understand scientific terms, what the JunoCAM Tool is showing are approximately raw; TRUE; realistic Colors of Jupiter. It is showing the Reflected Light in Colors from the planetary surface at the right orbital distance from the Star...

When the Citizen Scientists and Artists are enhancing; enriching; sharpening the raw images they are showing a '(NATURAL COLOR)' or an Image of Jupiter as it should look at the Earth Orbital Distance from the Star in an approximate Human Eye Resolution in Pixels... ?

The JunoCam images that have been processed to show Jupiter in true color should be comparable to what you would obtain if you could orbit Jupiter in a spaceship and photograph it with a typical camera (or even a phone). Even though Jupiter is five times farther from the Sun than the Earth is, the sunlight at Jupiter easily bright enough for typical consumer-type cameras. It's roughly comparable to an overcast/cloudy day on Earth.

When processing the raw JunoCam images into true color images some corrections have to be made to the original, raw data. Otherwise you get orange or yellow colored images which is not at all like Jupiter's color. The correction can be done using true color Earth-based Jupiter images as a reference, or by using Jupiter's spectrum to compute the correct overall color. Also some areas on Jupiter are known to be approximately white and these can be used as a reference.

The resolution of the JunoCam images is rather similar to the resolution (or resolving power) of the human eye - maybe slightly lower. This is different from most other spacecraft images which usually have a much narrower field of view than JunoCam (and therefore higher resolution). This means that what you see in a true color JunoCam image should be rather similar to what you would see with your own eye's from the spacecraft's location, both in terms of color and resolution.

JunoCAM is a scientific tool that is specially Designed; Calibrated and Adjusted to take high resolution images from a certain Space altitude while orbiting around Jupiter. Even if is directed to some of those tiny objects they perhaps wont be focused and will be barely visible in some pixel size. It will be not possible to clear; sharpen or focus them with any of the available software. You must know that I am just an amateur and not a specialist or professional, so you might need an assistance from one of those.